Greetings, Adventurers!
The powers of Artemis flourish within these caverns of stone and ancient root. Embark on a dangerous new Level 62+ Expedition to track down the primordial Beast Lords before pandemonium emerges from the depths of Aeternum. The elemental chaos of the Savage Divide awaits. This Expedition will release alongside Rise of the Angry Earth on October 3 and require the expansion to enter.
Mahantaram, the Mammoth Lord, has retreated into madness in the Savage Divide. A sinister mist and unsettling spores pour forth from the mouth of the cavern. As the days go on the howls of the beasts within grow louder and more deranged. The enraged Beast Lords pose a terrible threat to the population of Aeternum if not contained.
Join the Design Team for an in-depth discussion on everything you need to know about the Expedition in the video below.
Lore
Beneath the mountain of Vigrid, the tribes of the Beast Lords have dug tirelessly to create their new kingdom. Supported by the terraforming magic of Artemis and the Ennead, it took little time for the massive caverns to be carved out from the mountain. Deep within massive chambers expanded forth, interconnected by Ancient channels and ruins of the previously submerged Saircor ruins. Lush alien flora flood into it's depths, brightly illuminating the chambers within their new home.
When the Mammoth Lord first fled back into the depths of the Savage Divide it seemed hope was on the horizon. The Gorilla Lord followed his friend into the maw of the cavern, hoping to quell his rage, deep into the depths of the false promise that would be their demise. Neither has yet to return. Both alpha tribe members have begun to feel the Beast Lord souls manifest within them. Terrible omens for the lost Lords and Aeternum.
Mahantaram’s otherworldly nature reacted violently with the supernatural power of Aeternum. Such planar instability would have alarmed Artemis in a former life, but her Ancient knowledge and hatred of humankind inspired her to make use of this anomaly. Energy drains from the mammoth Beast Lord into bursts of destructive elemental magic. Artemis has confined this force of destruction to the Expedition. For now...
Design
We caught up with Level Designer Darren McKinsey for even more insight into the creation of the Savage Divide.
The Savage Divide was designed to evoke the primal nature of the Beast Lords. It’s incredibly lush with a ton of harvestable objects and multiple corners to explore. This organic feel is one of the key distinctions from prior Expeditions. Beyond aesthetic differences, the Design Team strove to set the Mammoth Lord’s lair apart through non-linear gameplay.
Originally, there were multiple routes throughout the entire Expedition, but the team scaled back to two paths after the complexity confused testers. Darren said the team took a similar approach with the tremendous bosses. Without spoiling too much, he looks forward to seeing what strategies players craft to topple these behemoths. In addition to player freedom, there are hidden rewards throughout the cavern. Discover vistas, a secret chest, and more.
“None of this would have been possible without the support of our co-developers at Lost Boys Interactive,” Darren said. “We want to highlight all of their hard work on this Expedition.”
Audio
“Storytelling through sound was a big focus on the audio side for The Savage Divide,“ said Audio Lead Austin DeVries. ”There are 4 main elements in the dungeon – the Environment, the Gorilla Lord, the Mammoth Lord, and the looming presence of Artemis’s grip on them. Musically, each element has a defining motif, harmonic and rhythmic language.“
“I knew I’d need another Frenchman to accomplish this, so I worked with Composer Edouard Brenneisen, who wrote the suite of Elysian Wilds music, which I remixed to hit the flow of the Expedition’s gameplay. Organic percussion, blown sounds, synths, legato smeared strings, female voice whispers and chants + lots of space and a combination of electronic production was the pallet we landed on to bring out the character and narrative of the dungeon. The handsome and talented Sound Designer Michael Finley jumped in to set the tone of the environment through ambience, objects, and finalizing the Mammoth fight. Ed is also handsome and talented.”
“Environment music sets the tone moving into the Gorilla music. It is chaotic, tribal, and should absolutely slap during the fight. There’s a smidge of Donkey Kong influence in there. Artemis is represented through the harmonic language and subtle whispers. Her presence is felt more and more as you progress through the Expedition, combining the motifs of all 4 elements. When ultimately fighting the proud Mammoth, Mahantaram, the influence of Artemis is fully felt.”
“To summarize for my music nerds out there— gameplay storytelling focused flugelhorn and Oud ripping on a distorted 808, Quintuplet Elemental Laser Mammoth fight, Frantic Flute Tribal Gorilla call and response.”
Thanks for your support! We’ll see you in Aeternum.